SOCIALLY PROFILED
IRONMAN TRAINING 2021
Week beginning Sunday, April 18, 2021
23 weeks until IRONMAN Canada.
WEEKLY GOAL
The goal this week is to simply duplicate the productivity of last week.
SUMMARY
I feel I like was ON THE EDGE but not entirely due to training stress.
The +14 hours of training last week plus what life gave me this week gave me a reason to pause. I replaced the scheduled run on Tuesday with a walk.
The run of 13 days of sunny weather ended this week too.
SUNDAY APR 18
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 5 | Stress 2 | Soreness 3
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Day 2 TAC Routine.
1st: Ride 90 minutes on the MTB. Ride whatever route sounds the most FUN. Easy to steady effort. I'm sure you'll have to dig deep to get up a climb or two. That is expected. Enjoy a sunny day on the trails!
2nd: Does NOT have to be off the bike, run 60 minutes. Very flat route. Aka: Path running. Easy effort.
NOTES
Total Time: 153 minutes
Plenty of fatigue in my legs from the ride yesterday. I took it super easy up Highland Road to the north end of Thetis Lake Park. My thoughts were about how to complete an hour run later. At least those thoughts lasted until I was in the park with the entire forest to myself.
Comfy Wooden Chair is a short XC trail that is just technical enough for my current MTB skillset. I rode it a couple weeks ago and it wasn't pretty. I decided to give it another go this afternoon. I solved a couple of problems, a couple other parts I have yet to link together.
The single track ends at Bellamy Trail. With just 40 minutes on the clock, I tackled a "rock garden" of a hill before doubling back to attempt Comfy Wooden Chair again. Second time around was better than the first and I headed south out of the park from there.
There is another hill on Bellamy that throws a heck of a punch. I cleared that one this afternoon too. This ride was fun.
AN HOUR-FIFTEEN LATER...
A little before 1800, I set off for a jog to the Inner Harbour.
There was really not much left in my legs. I did my best to fabricate a rhythm and I sort of did ok with that. I was not challenged aerobically and I used that to focus on posture.
I had about a hundred calories worth of Maynards candy before heading out the door and packed another hundred with me for the jog.
By 7km, my feet were getting tired too.
Time In Zones (RUN)
Time for a BIG spaghetti dinner.
MONDAY APR 19 ☀️
Sleep 4 | Fatigue 6 | Stress 3 | Soreness 4
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
5:30am: Swim 2100: 3 rounds (2x 50 easy free, 50 swim w/ fins, 50 kick on side w/ fins, switching/rotating every 6-10 kicks. R :20 after each) 4 rounds (50 w/ 3x sighting, 50 gradual build easy to strong, 50 easy. r :20 after each) 4x 200 Odds: Steady/continuous effort, Evens: Steady w/ buoy r :30. 2x 50 EASY to cool down.
Commute: 10 minutes easy/to the pool.
Commute: 20 minutes easy/back home. Not to long on the way back!
NOTES
Total Time: 85 minutes Distance: 2100m
Just under 6 hours of sleep but I did feel rested at 0500. No need for winter kit on the commute to the pool this morning!
In the pool, I really felt the weekend. It wasn't any one thing (legs/arms) but a general feeling of fatigue and a need to push through it.
Normalized Swim Paces
The ride home is where it really hit me that there is a good deal of fatigue in my legs.
A dude on an e-bike rode up behind to me as I turned onto Pandora Avenue and followed me across the Johnson Street Bridge then north on the bike path. He stayed right there too; a metre or two back, drafting off me on my mountain bike. My legs were screaming and I don't know why I felt the need to race someone with a throttle. Worse yet, I don't know why I got inwardly upset when the dude wasn't willing to take a pull.
I need food and a coffee.
!! 50m lengths for May sold out in 10 minutes.
TUESDAY APR 20 ☀️
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 5 | Soreness 5
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Day 1 TAC Routine.
Run 75 minutes. Choose a route with a few rollers/hills. You could head over to Cedar Hill, you could run the hill down the street that you used to do. This does NOT need a lot of elevation, but you have the all clear to run a few "not flat" sections. Easy effort overall. Bring at least 100 calories.
NOTES
I got a bit of a sleep-in this morning (nice) but I am feeling a little beat up; ankles and hips in particular.
Life hit me hard this evening. Started the run but pulled the plug and just walked. 50 minutes of walking, thinking, processing. Once home, I did a long session of stretching and lacrosse ball work. Vastus Lateralis (both) tender, Glut Med (left) very tight and my old friend QL (left) tired. Splenius Capitis got some work too.
WEDNESDAY APR 21 ☀️
Sleep 4 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 4 | Soreness 4
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Commute: 10 minutes easy/to the pool.
5:30am: Swim 2100: 2 rounds (50 easy free, 50 Fist drill, 50 swim w/ buoy, 50 swim w/ buoy and fist drill r :20 after each) 2 rounds (50 steady free, 50 free w/ strong finish to stroke, 50 swim w/ fins/steady, 50 swim w/ fins/strong finish to stroke r :20) 6 rounds (50 Strong effort/focus r :30, 100 relaxed/steady and continuous effort. r :30) 6x 50 Strong effort/focus. r :30 after each. 2x 50 EASY to cool down.
Commute: 60 minutes easy/back home. *Bring calories! This is a swim/bike brick. And I'm sure you'll be hungry by the end. Water front would be great. Just keep it easy.
NOTES
Total Time: 120 minutes
So, so sleep but a better start to the day.
2100m Swim Workout
Things were going just swimmingly until...
I smoked my fifth metacarpal bone on a metal latch of a metal structure protruding into the lane. That hurt! I am not normally that close to the edge of the pool but I was giving a slower swimmer some space as she had drifted toward the middle of the lane. I didn't know it was there until I REALLY knew it was there.
As soon as I could (~4 minutes), I got back to the workout but my hand is still smarting as I type this hours later.
The 6x50 Strong Effort set got this morning's best focus from me (end of the workout, less people remaining).
Easy Waterfront Ride
I think the last time a ride started off feeling like this was when Elliot invited me to a sprint/workout at Elk Lake last August. It could be described like an atypical fatigue in the legs: less hurt but still no power.
I did a modified, counterclockwise loop of the waterfront. I took my time and sucked down a 220 calorie bottle of lemonade. I purposefully missed the hill on Sinclair but that just put me into the Hills of Cedar Hill X Road and Blenkinsop.
THURSDAY APR 22 ☀️
Sleep - | Fatigue - | Stress - | Soreness -
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Ride 80 minutes: 30 minutes easy spinning. 5x 3:00 uphill (Mill hill area works with me) D 1-5. #1: Ride up, Perfect breathing, EASY effort. #2: Same but 2-5 rpm's faster. #3: Either 1 gear harder, or 10 rpms faster than #1. #4: Strong but controlled effort...think 40k TT effort, #5: Think 20k effort. Take 3 minutes to spin easy/Descend after each. 20 minutes easy spinning to cool down.
Off the bike: Run 30 minutes. Flat route. EASY effort.
NOTES
Total Time: 110 minutes Happiness: Yes
I am glad that I had a FaceTime meeting with my coach before heading out on the ride this afternoon. It help me reset expectations from how I read the workout vs the objectives needed to be achieved. With work done, its time to ride.
I rode out to Langford, then doubled back on Atkins Road few minutes to get to the entry of the Crystal View Subdivision.
I rode from the stop sign at the base of the hill, 47m up to a manhole cover at the crest of Greenmansions Place. I did not program the workout into my bike computer; in fact, I didn't even look at it except to push the lap button. Instead I focused only on perceived effort.
Each trip down the hill was consistently a minute and a half of rest (not 3 minutes). Each time up was with a bit more intensity, except I blew up midway on the fourth climb and paid for it on the top half. The 5th time up was paced way better.
Climb Stats
| Time | Avg KPH | Avg BPM | Max BPM | Est Power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3:21 | 10.7 | 130 | 138 | 218w |
| 2 | 2:57 | 11.8 | 134 | 146 | 235w |
| 3 | 2:44 | 12.7 | 142 | 153 | 257w |
| 4 | 2:45 | 12.7 | 145 | 153 | 255w |
| 5 | 2:38 | 13.3 | 148 | 158 | 268w |
Silverstone Strava Segment
I found this on Strava later tonight. Red line is my heartrate, blue is their estimated power on the fifth time up the hill tonight. It looks like I matched my personal best of 2:37 going up this hill, set on June 17th last summer. 
I ran well considering it was pretty close to being right off the bike. I shouldn't be that surprised though; I did miss a run on Tuesday. Basic route to the middle of the Selkirk Trestle in 15 minutes and 30 second negative split (net uphill) on the way back! — 5.33 km @5:33/km pace
FRIDAY APR 23 ⛅️
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 4 | Stress 4 | Soreness 4
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Day 2 TAC Routine.
Run 30 minutes. EASY. Flat route. Not hard in the slightest.
3:30pm: Swim 2100: 3 rounds (100 easy free, 4x 25 kick D 1-4 r :10) 600 continuous/steady w/ nice kicking rhythm. 2x 25 Super easy. 6x 125 Steady/Strong focus (aka: Stronger turnover and higher form focus than usual) R :30. 4x 25 super easy to cool down.
NOTES
Total Time: 80 minutes Swim: 2100m
Thankful that today's swim workout was easy to remember as I couldn't get it to sync with my watch. It was a nice change as I used the clock(s) on the wall to monitor my rest times. One thing not measured was the kick lengths so the activity shows 1800m of "swimming".
The warmup felt like should. I was stiff through the shoulders initially but it didn't last all that long. The 600m was paced appropriately and I was digging a little bit deeper on the 6x125 set. 1:42/100m to wrap things up after a longer break after the last 125m effort.
Effort and focus were on point at the pool this afternoon. I bested my previous 400m PR from Feb 29, 2020 by 22 seconds without trying.
The run was a relaxed pace a little while after dinner. Same 5km route as yesterday but a notch slower. 30 minutes, evenly split to the Selkirk Trestle and back. It was noticeably cooler tonight and the 13 day run on sunny weather has ended.
SATURDAY APR 24 🌧
Sleep 3 | Fatigue 3 | Stress 2 | Soreness 4
Rate on an scale 1-7 1=best 7=worst +5 is a warning
PLANNED WORKOUT
Off SBR!
NOTES
Total Time: 0 minutes
Worked on the bathroom renovation today.
Back to training tomorrow.
End of the week roundup of niggles includes:
- Left Vastus Medialis: feel like a very minor, very localized tear.
- Left Glute Med: general stiffness (tight).
- Right Ankle (lateral below the Fibula): general soreness felt walking and running.